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June 28, 2013

Transylvanian Jewish History In Hungary and Romania

For the
final part of this series of posts I would like to discuss the history of the
Jews in Transylvania. Many people think of the Jews as a minority everywhere, and in a lot of cases they are the minority. What people do not
consider, though, is how long of a history the Jews have and how widespread it
is. Jewish history takes place on almost every continent, because there have
been Jews on almost every continent. It is said that the Jews were in
Transylvania when it was called Dacia and the Romans ruled it. At this time
the Jews were considered no different from other citizens and worked as tradesmen, creditors, and also acted as the middlemen in negotiations between Transylvania and
other countries.

However, when the Hungarian kingdom
fell to Turkish expansion between 1526-1540, things started to change for the
Transylvanian Jewish community. At this time Transylvania
became an autonomous principality under the Ottomans. In 1623, Prince Gabriel Bethlen gave the Transylvania Jewish community trading privileges
and freedom of religion from the Ottoman kingdom. For a time there were no
restrictions on these privileges and freedoms. Restrictions were imposed in 1653, and Jews were forced to live
in the capital, Alba, and nowhere else.

At the end of the 17th
century things changed once again for Transylvania when the Austrians took over ruling Transylvania and it became known as the Great Principality of Transylvania. The Austrians conducted a regular census. Because of this, we know that the Jewish
population grew in Transylvania while the area was under Austrian rule. The
first general census in 1754 tells us that there were 107 Jewish families in
Transylvania. By 1779 there were 221 Jewish families. In 1785-1786 there were
394 Jewish families. The 394 families consisted of 2,092
people. As was mentioned in previous posts, Transylvania was under the rule of
the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I. Just before the war the census
reported that Jews made up 2.4% of the population. When Romania did their
census in 1930, the Jews made up 3.5% of the population.

With the outbreak of World War II, northern
Transylvania was given to Hungary, while southern Transylvania remained under
the rule of Romania. In 1944 there were 131,633 Jews living in ghettos that
were eventually sent to Auschwitz. At the end of World War II, the whole of
Transylvania was once again under the rule of Romania. The census reported that
there were 90,444 Jews living in Transylvania in 1944. In 1956 the census only
recorded 43,814 Jews living in Transylvania. This decline was mainly due to emigration.
Unfortunately, this number has continued to decrease over the years. In 2002,
there were only 7,000 Jews living in Transylvania. The Jews have a lot of
history and culture in Transylvania, and some of that remains to this day. It
is up to us to seek it out.